CHICK-FIL-A PEACH BOWL: OREGON VS INDIANA

January 5, 2026

Bryce Boettcher

Mercedes-Benz Stadium

Oregon Ducks

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Bryce, going back to the regular season matchup, is there anything that sticks out most in your mind?

BRYCE BOETTCHER: Yeah, a couple things defensively. First off, when you stop the run, they're really good at running the ball. We got to do that. Got to cage your quarterback. Feel like he's overlooked for how good he is at scrambling at times getting out of the pocket. Got to do that, just do our job.

Q. What are the days like? After a shutout where the defense did so much right, what is the response to that?

BRYCE BOETTCHER: Yeah, I mean, we had a really good game. I think it just obviously gives you confidence. You can't get complacent with that confidence. You got to realize that Indiana is going to be a way better team than Tech. Tech was a good team, but Indiana is better.

At this point it's win or go home. We're pumped for the opportunity.

Q. Dan said this team is drastically different since you played Indiana last time. Where have you changed since that matchup?

BRYCE BOETTCHER: We've sewn some things up within our defense. As we played them, we installed some new defenses that we're still working the kinks out of. Now we're experts at it. Everybody knows their job in and out. We've had a lot of reps at it.

Q. People say it's hard to beat a team twice. What makes it so hard to beat a team twice?

BRYCE BOETTCHER: Yeah, I mean, I think obviously that's a narrative. I know teams have been beaten twice. Sometimes it doesn't happen. I don't know, I think Indiana is a good team. We're also a good team. The better team's going to win, so...

Q. You guys are one win away from clinching a spot in the national championship. As a kid from Eugene that has watched the Ducks, what does that mean for you?

BRYCE BOETTCHER: Yeah, it means everything. It's a pretty rare opportunity. There's four teams left. Pretty cool. Surreal.

I'll be happy once we get this win. Honestly, I'm head down, focused on the task at hand. But it's a cool opportunity.

Q. Dante Moore said the first time around he maybe was in his head a little bit, made the game bigger than what it was. How are you going about using the stakes of the game to motivate you without letting it impact you mentally in a negative way?

BRYCE BOETTCHER: Yeah, I mean, I've played a lot of big games in my year here, whether it be football or baseball. I feel like I do a pretty good job at handling the magnitude of the game.

At the end of the day, it's a football game. We play the game every day in practice. We've been in pretty dang big games. It's just another game, but it's win or go home, so I'm pumped for that aspect.

Q. How much of what you know from what you've seen from Indiana back in October, how much of that game goes into prepping in the Playoffs? Is it totally different now?

BRYCE BOETTCHER: Yeah, it definitely comes into play. I mean, obviously they're not a new team but an evolved team, and so are we. I think more so kind of correcting our errors in where we went wrong in the first game, doing some self-scout and recognizing that. They may try to expose that again in this next game.

Yeah, it comes into play a little bit. We also watched new film because they're an evolved team.

Q. I'm interested to know some of the ways specifically this team has been able to gel together even at the end of the season with these long road trips.

BRYCE BOETTCHER: Yeah, it's always cool when you get to spend some time together. Obviously most of the time we're spending time together, it's pretty locked in at the task at hand. We try not to spend a whole lot of time talking about other stuff other than football.

There are other times on the plane or in the hotel room when you have some downtime that you can come together, bond. So it's been fun.

Q. The defense, installing some things. You threw a lot of different coverages at Tech that you hadn't used a lot of or at all. Can you explain to the fan how that can confuse a quarterback and what that might offer you?

BRYCE BOETTCHER: Yeah, I mean, you can't be the same team every time you play another team or else they'll just scout you, know what you're in every single time.

Obviously it's you got to do your assignment, play hard. At the end of the day, the team that plays the hardest and does their assignment is going to win.

Some variables, throw in some new things at a team, which is definitely important. When Indiana comes out, I'm sure they won't do everything we've seen on film. They'll have a few wrinkles. That's the exciting part.

Q. Just to look back at your game individually as well as the defense as a whole, what have you seen from yourself personally as well as overall as a defense that's going to be better this time around?

BRYCE BOETTCHER: Just doing our job within our defense. Honestly, the past Indiana game, couple mental errors where I didn't necessarily do my job in the body of the defense. Same goes for other guys on our team. I think just sewing that up, better understanding our opponent, having a better game plan going into the game. So yeah.

Q. Your take as somebody who has gone against Indiana's offensive line, give me a player's view, what makes them good?

BRYCE BOETTCHER: Yeah, they're smart, fast and physical. I know up front in their run game they play physical and they do their job. They don't have a lot of unblocked hats. I know in the screen game they get out and are elite at kind of retracing and blocking for their receiver in the screen game, which was present in our last game. We've done a lot of screen drills.

They're a good unit, they play well together and do their job.

Q. The first game felt like maybe an inflection point for the season, a reset you go on, don't lose again. What did that game mean? How did that reset you guys and push you through the rest of the season?

BRYCE BOETTCHER: I believe everything happens for a reason. I think we needed that to kind of wake us up. We came out of a big Penn State win, kind of thought we were pretty cool going into that week, pretty confident. Got a little lackadaisical with our prep, I think. It was a good wake-up call. The rest of the season leading up to this point is a pretty good testament to the way we responded to that loss.